Starting OverOlden and Anew
by ReaderPal
Summary: The Teen Titan's most diabolical foe is back, changed for the worse by lose and Raven may have to fight him one on one. However, this enemy may have picked on the wrong sorcerer. Also someone close to Raven makes a decision that will change them greatly.
1. Chapter 1

**Starting Over: Olden&Anew**

**A/N: **_This story is a __sequel to both "A Black Rose and Two Pink Carnations!" and__ "__Stormy Friendship and Sunny Love". This fanfiction was only supposed to be one chapter in length. However, the first part of this story turned out to be a bit longer than the entire length of its predecessor (14 pages). Therefore I decided to split this story in half. This first chapter is the set up to the 2__nd__ one, which will feature my very first Teen Titans fight scene. P.S I own none of the characters in this story, although, one or two concepts may belong to me._

The figure moved stealthily, as though it were a shadow on the wall and not a living being. The being now looked around the area it was in for intruders or spies. It had done this several times before on this particular night. Finding nothing it let out a tiny, almost silent sigh, as though it hoped would catch something spying on its activities. If so, it could always come back later and again delay its venture into the human-made hole it was about to enter.

The territory surrounding this structure was pure swamp land. However it was not unspoiled as a trash bag or other sign of human presence occasionally floated by. These objects of civilization were drawn on its course by a current as was often case where there was far more water then land. In any case, the humanoid shape (it was devoid of all features, save for an eye), looked at the entrance it was about to reenter for the first time in many months.

The structure was a huge gray pipe (it's a sewer pipe*) that was so large it looked as though an elephant quite easily go through it. The top and bottom of it was covered in bright green moss and dirt. The pipe had been built into the side of an old unfinished road, no one but this being knew of this area. It was impossible to see beyond the opening, the hole was in shadow as though the figure was about to enter a black hole.

But it was not the terrain or the atmosphere that gave the figure apprehension and perhaps a tiny amount of fear, an emotion the figure was definitely not used to.

No, it was something else, not what the figure saw as it looked into the pitch black opening but what it had already seen and what it feared waited inside.

Still the figure thought it had nowhere else to go, thus with the slightest hint of reluctance the figure entered the black abyss that was the shadowy sewer-pipe.

Once inside, the being look around to make certain that it was not being followed once more, and then continued on. After making its way through 2 miles worth of pipes figure finally exited the sewer system through a carefully hidden ladder. This could only be accessed from by opening a trap door made out of solid rock. The shadowy form then climbed down the ladder, and finally it got off, now its feet were on solid rocky ground.

The being was now in a series of tunnels that had originally been built by mobsters at the very beginning of the Prohibition era. There were several different exits; all of them were built in strategic locations. Most led to warehouses, others led to abandoned buildings, deserted churches, unusual shops, vacant theaters, one even led to what could only be assumed a giant factory. As it filled with all sorts of gears, pulleys, and levers, the huge room resembled nothing as much as the inside of Big Ben.

However, what the figure was descending to now was not an exit but an entrance. The dark form climbed down one more latter and when it was pulled away a ladder went to a wall that had a curving entrance, directly opposite from it. The as yet unknown person pushed in a small stone.

Afterwards, a miniature panel slid open, containing only a button and a beam that was fired from a camera eye. The being carefully moved its own eye into the proper position, and as seconds later, a cold mechanical voice seemed to come from the camera, it said "retina scan finished, subject confirmed. Voice identification and vocal password required"

The figure spoke, its voice without a touch of emotion, "the scorpion that strikes with overconfidence may cause the silencing of its own young."

After a moment, the voice said "subject confirmed, Mr. W, you may now enter."

Elevator doors appeared as a small portion of the rock wall moved away, the figure entered the elevator doors and pushed one of four buttons. The button that the unknown humanoid pushed was labeled "Headquarters".

When the elevator stopped, the doors opened and the being stepped out and said "voice command input: lights on." As the room became brighter, it paused, for a moment. The figure remarked "ah yes… my home away from home. In spite of my fears, it's good to back here again."

The person once draped in shadow now stood revealed: the figure was clad almost completely in black with the exception of pieces of silver armor it had on its gloves, knees, feet, shoulders, arms, legs, and neckline. There was a belt which pouches attached to it they were made of a similar looking material. Its elbows and stomach had a silvery appearance to them. The left side of its armored mask was completely blank except for or integrating orange grating holes. The right side of its face was orange and featured its one eye. It had the same gratings, but they were black in color.

The person holding the blade and now turning his eye to look around the room had been given many monikers in the past but now he was known by one only to his enemies: Slade!

On his back there was a large bright red double-sided battle axe that had another (detachable) blade on the other side of its handle. The weapon also had a red Aura and flames occasionally sprang up from it.

Originally, the weapon had looked like it was made of ordinary metal, although the fact that it could slice off Trigon's horns proved that it was not. The axe had also shaped differently, it was double-bladed but one side had a smaller, though longer blade. The bottom of the weapon had a smaller more manageable blade now. Slade now held the blade is hand and look at it, he half suspected that the weapon was now made out of solid ruby or some unknown mystical red metal.

Now as his eye completed its journey across his headquarters Slade was enveloped by anger and fear.

Then Slade did something that most would have expected someone else to do in this situation, but not him. The man shouted as loud as possible "when I find out who is responsible for this… I'll skin them alive and burn their remains in front of their family before mutilating them as well!"

After a moment Slade stopped and sighed, he knew that being angry would solve nothing, besides he still had the blade in his favor.

This whole mess had started only a week after Trigon's defeat. Slade had gone to his nearest Hideaway after spending the last seven days recuperating from his recent ordeal. If Slade's healing power was still working it would have taken him only a day to recover from his wounds. Only a few years after his organization had become a powerful force in Jump City his healing abilities and enhanced strength and speed. The power that had served Slade well in his previous career ceased to work.

At first, he had thought that his enhanced abilities had been merely nullified by something, but after working for three years, he found nothing out of the ordinary and could only conclude that his government granted powers were beginning to wear off. Normally Slade would have been consoled by the fact that his daughter "Ravager" would take over for him if he was indeed killed. However, she was his secret weapon, her whole purpose was to hunt down and kill anyone who succeeded in murdering him. So she was out of the question.

Then Slade realized that he could turn Robin's obsession with him and his passion for justice to his advantage. Thus he had concocted a plan in order to turn a superhero into his apprentice, but that had failed. So he set his sights on the uncertain, insecure, and quite venerable Terra. This however had been his last mistake. She had turned on him, and in her rage she did something Slade had once considered to be impossible as far as superheroes were concerned: she killed him!

Even at his previous job. He had never even considered the possibility that a superhero could commit murder. But then, as far as the world was concerned, Terra was dead as well. Of course he knew that she was now likely hiding somewhere, and when the time came he would go after her and likely commit quite a bloody murder. But in the meantime Slade had to think about the events that had occurred earlier that day.

After Slade had entered the nearest one of his warehouse hideouts, which doubled as the storage place for his robot army, and was shocked to find it almost completely empty. The only thing he found was the left arm of one of his robots. Then Slade went to his hideout in an abandoned office building. All of the files, machinery, tools, weapons, loot, and maps were taken or destroyed. The video screen built into the wall that he used to communicate with both his minions and his other hideouts was smashed and its innards were slashed, bashed, disconnected, and set on fire.

He went to his other robot storage facilities (mostly warehouses) and found them empty or completely destroyed. One of these hideouts in a garage looked like it had stepped on by a giant foot. The area underground had been trashed and flooded with acid. By now it was apparent to Slade that someone was trying or had tried to destroy his criminal organization.

For the first time in a long time the criminal mastermind was worried, thus Slade checked his various bank accounts. They were all either empty or erased. The villain now checked his various overseas electronic bank accounts, they had been emptied out, and all the other accounts used by criminals or connected with them were either hacked into, just like his, or erased. He then looked at all of his other overseas (non-electronic) accounts, the money had either been withdrawn. In some banks, physical cash had been destroyed and the banks could or would not make reparations for the amount lost.

After he learned that his land holdings had been sold to either various charities or small nations in need of cash, Slade realized that the time that the land was sold was roughly the same as the time as the money disappeared.

Now that he knew what to look for the former crime lord and then proceeded to check the time each of his hideouts had been destroyed. Slade found that the damage and destruction began when the hallucinogenic in his mask was activated and ended two weeks before his return from the dead. This was a period of seven months. Slade now begin taking a look at everything related to his organization as well.

At his other hideouts, it was the same story everywhere. Damage, destruction, accessibility to objects or places, things simply disappearing, stuff being sold, or key people arrested. Slade's organization now known as "Deathblow" had been completely destroyed! In hindsight that had been relatively easy to do since most of his minions were robots and his organization wasn't that large or powerful to begin with.

However up until now, Slade had thought that his organization's headquarters had been untouched and untainted by his enemy's destructive hand. Now, however Slade, despite his angry outburst and release of said anger had not yet started to feel the full psychological toll of the destruction that had been wrought. This critically praised* but largely unknown organization that had taken years to build was gone. The villain was near the breaking point, as far as he was concerned. He had nothing left, nothing left except…

However unknown to Slade as he was reminiscing about recent events, a figure shrouded in shadow was moving stealthily and carefully moving from one empty and disregarded crate to another*. Slade was sitting on one such crate in a pose which made him resemble Michelangelo's the "Thinker" (only meaner looking).

Finally the figure reached its destination, and as it did so it grabbed the mystical weapon that Slade had left lying on the ground. Normally, this would have never happened, except that Slade had developed a long-standing and quite secretive habit of rechecking large calculations on his fingertips. Because of this he had to reluctantly put his weapon on the ground, although he kept glancing back at it every other minute or so.

The villain stopped doing this when he realized there was a particular pattern of damage done to his organization. He was excited as he slowly began to realize who was likely responsible for his criminal empire's destruction. Now he realized there was only one thing to do: summon a demon, and give it the hellfire weapon he had stolen, in exchange for his organization being restored with powerful reality altering magic.

He then looked at where the object in question lay. He stared in absolute horror: it was gone! And with it is only chance of rebuilding his criminal empire was gone to! Out of the corner of his good eye Slade could've sworn he saw an unknown cloaked figure.

However at the moment he did not care, for this was the trigger for a fit of temporary insanity for Slade. In short, Slade had snapped!

The former mastermind shouted "it's all gone! It's all gone! First my army of robots, then my equipment, then my hideouts and safe houses ransacked, and now this! The ingrate even had the audacity to steal my prized set of Silver-handled golf clubs! This isn't some mere hideaway. This is my house, my sanctuary, the one place I can go to plot and plan anew, study and examine my enemies, find peace from my troubled family life, and calm down when all else fails me!

Only his butler, Wintergreen would've grasped the significance of the situation his Master was in. The long years of running his organization and having little to show for it, while having his son disappear in the same time period, had taken their toll.

The fact that only later that year, he had lost his soul and what had turned out to be his last remaining Slade-bot (to the unfunny changeling no less) only made his feelings of despair and helplessness more obvious.

After several minutes of woe and the occasional sobbing, Slade heard the phone rang. After several rings depicted up and said in an extremely tired and uncaring voice "hello is this?"

The voice on the phone had a faint British accent and was laced with concern "Master Wilson, you're alive…"

With at least two layers* of irony Slade sarcastically replied "yes, isn't it lovely."

His butler and confidant seem not to notice his tone and said "when the papers announced your death I knew they were wrong. You're not the kind of person who dies just because of a little lava… Oh I'm so glad your back sir."

Slade coughed politely, but his intent was misinterpreted "you sound horrible sir; I will be down to your "special quarters" momentarily to check in on you."

Behind his mask Slade had to smile at his best friend's somewhat overwhelming concern. Still, even the fact his only friend coming to see him was not an enough to change Slade's mood.

When Wintergreen emerged from the elevator, he seems shocked by the state of his master's criminal headquarters. However, when he saw his friend, with his eye and head lowered Wintergreen's expression became one of horror.

The butler ran over to his master had asked "Mr. Wilson, are you alright? I have never seen you in such a state before."

Slave looked at him and said "Wintergreen… it's all gone."

The only person Slade could confide in looked at him and said "what's gone, sir?"

Slade sighed and said" Deathblow is."

Slade's friend asked "is there anything left sir."

The villain said "nothing… it's either been destroyed or stolen."

Wintergreen thought for a moment and asked "what about the things not connected to your organization?"

Slade leapt up to the floor, and in a rare bit of extreme self-disgust, he slapped himself on the black side of his mask. This caused his Butler to chuckle as his master was embarrassed according to his body posture. The two friends then began coming up with a written list of equipment, resources and money you had from his former occupation. A few hours later the two believed they had written down everything they remembered. Then suddenly, Wintergreen snapped his fingers and looked at Slade. Wintergreen spoke while as he looked his master in his eye" that reminds me, I have a very late birthday gift for you sir."

Slade's one eye had its brow raised in surprise as his friend got up and entered the elevator. 30 minutes later, Wintergreen returned carrying a large and somewhat heavy looking (the butler was sweating and groaning a bit) cardboard box in his arms. Wintergreen put the box on an empty crate and said to his master "this present was supposed to be given to you on your last birthday, but when you did not return I saved it for you."

Although was difficult to tell, Slade's body language indicated he was pleased and grateful to his friend for his present, regardless of its contents. Using the strength enhancing armor he wore Slade tore open the box. Upon doing so reached into his one of the various pockets, on his belt. From there he retrieved a small hand-held flashlight so he could see the box's contents.

For a moment Slade stared into the box in stone silence, and then he carefully reached inside and pulled out one of the objects in the box… it was a mask, his original one!

Unlike the one he currently wore this mask was made of cloth, not metal and blue instead of black on the right side. It was form fitting but would be revealed nothing of his features save for his eye. Slowly he put the mask down and put his hand back in the box.

He pulled out a weapon that looked like a cross between a sai and a sword; this was the blade he had used in hand-to-hand combat for years until he founded his criminal organization. It took the other identical looking weapon out of the box and then started to take out the entire costume within it.

Also in the box, with several grenades, a loaded sniper rifle, two slips of paper with all of the account numbers not directly related with the organization, a razor-sharp Javelin Slade occasionally used, a thin coil of steel rope that was used for silent kills, a small case filled with listening devices slightly more than a dime in size), smoke bombs with various purposes and effects, and a photo of his family.

The original five were now three. The younger of his two sons (Grant) had died when he had attempted to duplicate his father's abilities. The serum worked for a few days but had then unexpectedly stopped working, because Grant's version of the formula was incomplete. Slade's wife had died years ago in an alcohol related suicide (that was what the official report said anyway). The whereabouts of Slade's younger son were unknown but there were reliable reports that he was alive and well.

In one corner of the box, there was an object Slade had noticed before. It was a small vial of blue-green liquid; the villain recognized what it was almost immediately. With slightly shaky hands Slade took vial out of the box and stared at it in disbelief. The man turned to Wintergreen and asked "old friend, could you please tell me what this is doing here?"

Wintergreen smiled widely and said "the liquid in the vial is exactly what you think it is sir. I got the complete version of the 'formerly' incomplete formula from the son of a 'former' high school friend of mine. The young lad is a hacker of impressive skill and his father owes me $20,000. Half of this money comes from a long series of high school poker games he lost to me. The other half comes from the money he needed for his last high school prom (limo, a very nice tux, 5 bribes, some good wine made in 1864). Incidentally he was the one who tried to have me killed off in the military. "

Slade took off his mask as he fondly remembered that particular incident. He had literally had to pull his Army buddy by the seat of his pants out of the line of fire during that rescue.

As the criminal started to take off the rest of his uniform he spoke to Wintergreen. "As I told you before, if you would simply hire me to "take care of him" I would be more than happy to do so for free. Consider it something of a payment for your years of faithful service."

With his back turned to the now nearly naked Slade, Wintergreen replied "sir, there is no need for that, you have saved my life. Thus I have vowed to spend the rest of my days helping you in any way I can as your faithful servant."

Slade was half expecting this reply and said "very well then out of curiosity do any of the pockets in this uniform now contain something to inject to this liquid into my bloodstream"?

After a few minutes, Wintergreen replied "the largest pocket on the right side of your old costume has that particular instrument. I suspected that you would need it sir."

Slade was now wearing the bottom part of his costume and a sleeveless white T-shirt. He reached into the pocket his friend had into it indicated and pulled out the syringe, he carefully removed the plunger and poured the liquid into the device. After doing this he momentarily searched his left arm for a vein big enough to suit his purposes, when he finally found one he ejected the liquid into it.

A few seconds afterword Slade looked like he had trouble standing and then collapsed onto the floor, his butler ran towards is to form with a look of horror on his face.

However, as Wintergreen found out Slade had a steady pulse and after five minutes he got up again, his body still shivering slightly. After waiting a few more minutes Slade went to an area of the room where the broken remains of the surveillance monitor lay on the and picked up a piece of glass. He used the start of glass to stab himself in the right arm, after a minute he removed the glass and watched as the wound healed itself within 2 seconds.

Slade now got the rest of his costume on and after adding the costumes accessories to it. He stepped into the light for his friend to see.

His upper body, shoulders, upper arms, upper legs, and hips were black. The lower arms were covered in bright blue armor that resembled fish scales. At this point on his body there was a ring of grenades around his arm which were attached by yet another belt. Slade had on leather gloves that were a darker orange then his face. On his back when the two are looking weapons mentioned earlier and their scabbards were attached to his back in a way that resembled an X. His abs and lower back were covered by the same blue armor from before.

Around his waist were a series of bright orange pockets that were held up by a gray belt that it originally been blue to match the armor on some parts of his body. The color had been changed when Slade had found that the belt was difficult to see for _both _he and his enemies.

From Slade's right shoulder to under his right arm and back again there was a decorative series of gun cartridges. This was obviously for the pistol he had attached to his left leg. The holster like much of the costume had originally been light orange, but was now a darker shade.

On Slade's other leg was a small pocket (a pocket split in two) attached to his leg by a belt that had originally contain only a thermal detonator. Now the pocket was slightly larger and contained both a thermal detonator and his steel encased Blackberry with which he occasionally did his illegal business with. This particular device was among the most heavily encrypted examples of said device on the planet. It had purchased from a Chinese factory that knew what it was doing. In his right hand he carried a large semi automatic shotgun.

His legs were covered in blue with other with an inner layer of cotton for comfort. Like quite a few superheroes, he wore orange shorts over his blue leather leggings. His feet and part of his legs were encased in very dark orange leather boots. Attached to these, by a belt, was a knife with an orange-black holster. The last thing that was noticeable was that the two streaming bits of cloth that slaves mask was tied with had been cut to more than half the length. Likely, this was because he thought they looked stupid and that they were potentially dangerous to him as someone might try to grab them.

Wintergreen had finished is examination of his master's new costume and smiled and nodded his head in approval. However after a moment he had a question and therefore he asked his master" sir, before you go back to your former occupation will you be dealing with your enemies: the Teen Titans?"

Slade took his head "no Wintergreen. I think it's safe to say that I do not wish to be with them for a long time to come. At the very least, I want to get back into practice as a mercenary for a few months before I would consider dealing with them and only if it was part of my assignment. Besides I suspect that one of them may be responsible for the destruction of my organization, and when I do confront them and they have done this crime. I wish to be able to destroy them without mercy."

Wintergreen nodded and asked" will that be all sir?"

Slade thought for a moment and replied "yes Wintergreen. You can go back to the house and take the 6 hours off; I will meet you there in a few hours… after I go interview some of my old contacts to see if they have any "job openings" for me."

Over the next few months Slade went on a wide variety of jobs as a mercenary, with many of those jobs being assassinations. This was something he had been particularly famous for in the past and now he was becoming well-known for these skills once more.

However, in spite of his earlier announcement that he would not see the Titans for some time Slade would nevertheless meet the Titans once again, sooner than he expected…

**End of Part One**

A/N: something seemingly insignificant in this story will have certain consequences later on. Remember, that there is more than one person who wears this particular item of clothing, and even then, not everything is as it seems. For example, half of Slade's robots were not taken or sold by the person who has been causing all this trouble. Instead, this being or beings, merely tipped off Professor Chang as to their location. At this point, they're probably be used as workers in places where no human could exist.

Anyway one of the things I wanted to do was highlight the relationship between Slade and Wintergreen. Each person is probably the only good thing. In each other's lives. Slade is a tragic figure, largely because of his chosen career. As far as villains are concerned, in the series Slade will not be a major archenemy. The real bad guys are in the shadows, carefully hidden by various layers of lesser villains that comprise the majority of their forces on earth. However, you will be able to feel their presence. I also think that unless you're very familiar with comic book history you won't recognize them but I assure you they are all incredibly dangerous.

Slade however, will return after this story two or three times. Each time he comes back he'll get a little more brutal in both his fighting style and what he's willing to do it order to achieve his goals. Each time he encounters the Titans. It will be for a very different reason. For example, in his next appearance, an event that takes place in the 28th issue of the Titans Go comic book will be a contributor to his battle with the Titans that take place in that story.

By the last time he encounters the Titans. He will you will be even more ruthless than the surprise villain at the end of the second chapter of this story. I'm pretty certain you'll be surprised by who that is. By telling you the general and not the specifics I can give my audience information without giving away too much.

*It was built as part of a waste disposal scheme that was not carried through, it was also the source of the trash in the swamp.

*By other super-villains of course.

*"Or at least as carefully as one could move while imitating a "Loony-Toon's" exaggerated style of tiptoeing. But such was the nature of this being sometimes." I was going put this in there but I realized it didn't fit.

*Slade was brought back to life as a living skeleton but now that he's fully human again he doesn't care about life in the slightest.


	2. Before the Coming Darkness!

_"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves__  
><em>_come when life seems most challenging."_ **Joseph Campbell**

**Starting Over: Olden&Anew-Part Two**:

_**Before the Coming Darkness!**_

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A/N:_ This story is a sequel to both "A Black Rose and Two Pink Carnations!" and "Stormy Friendship and Sunny Love". This tale will contain a medium-sized plot point in which someone has a new goal in their life and a major plot point where Raven "shows off". We also get to meet two of Raven's "sorcerer friends". We will also learn of a prophecy that will have major implications later on. Finally we will learn were Starfire and Raven gets their native food from. _

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Beneath his mask Slade smiled for the first time on this particular day. The breakfast Wintergreen had prepared for him was excellent as usual. Slade now wondered if he should change his will and give his friend the money and perhaps the push Wintergreen needed to pursue what Slade had long suspected was a dream of his: being a professional chef! That is of course, if something actually happened to him, and outside of old age Slade doubted if he would ever die. After all, how often did a nuclear explosion occur?

In any event, Slade now made a vow never to get involved in any assassination that took place in or around Iran, or in between India and Pakistan for that matter. Considering certain rumors, there might indeed be the possibility of such a _disturbing_ event. Being a good super villain or even just a good criminal, was sometimes simply about knowing _when_ to leave and to pick your jobs with care…

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Raven sighed, what had started as a simple redecorating project was now on the verge of acquiring requiring her to draw up plans for the walls of her room to be rebuilt. She knew that Starfire and Cyborg meant well but she was not the type of person to spend money on extensive renovations to her room, simply because her friends liked the look. That being said, Starfire _had_ consulted her beforehand, as Cyborg had not. It seems he was intent on giving her "the works" in terms electronic conveniences*… when she simply did not need them! A few simple spells and her ability to enchant multiple objects with her powers were all that was necessary to keep her room neat and tidy. Raven did have some small modifications to her room that needed to be made; but due to her friends she had a decision to make. Namely: Did the room were require extensive renovation or not?

Then she heard the ringing of a previously set timer that sat in one corner of her bed…

Raven spoke softly "Ah yes that means the food is ready." She floated into the air and went out of her room down the hallway. Raven took the elevator downstairs and went in to the kitchen, all the while making sure she with silent.

Ever since the Titans had decided to divide up their chores, Raven had not gotten cooking duty, the unfortunate mishap on her birthday had seen to that. However, the very burnt food had been due to two factors, for one thing Raven did not have nearly as much time as she needed to make the food.* Secondly, she had very little to work with as the person whose job it was to go shopping (Robin, oddly enough) had not gone. Now thanks to Starfire Raven know of a place where she could get the food she needed to make food from her home dimension. This was something she had long wanted to do. The store was called "Galflang's Unique Foods and Take Out", this is where Starfire and Raven got their native foods, or in some cases at least a reasonable facsimile of them. The place catered to aliens, supernatural beings, sorcerers, and interdimensional travelers… Business was surprisingly good as there as the place was often packed and sometimes there was a long line to get in.

In any case, Raven had prepared large feast it had been picked out to appeal to each Titans palette. Beast Boy's was composed of vegetables and wheat products, Cyborg's was almost completely meat, Starfire's was a traditional athlete's meal* (there were no warriors living _in_ the city state were Raven had grown up), Robin's meal had been planned down to the last detail and was a combination of expensive looking food and a few variations on traditional American foods, hers was simply a collection of her favorite foods. She was now using her powers to get the table set. The other Titans came downstairs only three minutes after she finished that final task.

Raven was now grinning from ear to ear. At first, but Titans thought she was embarrassed about something but… Raven replied" I appreciate the concern, but my smile is one of accomplishment and joy, not of embarrassment." The others stared at her in shock and disbelief. Raven was slightly annoyed, but she responded "um… guys I can feel emotion any time I want to now, but I'm taking this thing slowly. Because I don't know how long it's going to last and I want to enjoy it."

She led the Titans into the dining room, where they were again amazed at the large feast she had prepared for them.

Beast Boy stared at Raven and said "wait since when do you know how to cook?"

Raven looked back at him more annoyed than usual and said "I know how to cook menu dishes. Most of them from lands or places other than this country through 3/7 of them being what might be called gourmet dishes. However, _someone_ forgot to go shopping on the week of my birthday. (Robin looked quite embarrassed) So the only thing left was what I made. Besides, I was tired from sleeping in too late. That also maybe turn on cooking circle on the stove quite high, in order to make up for lost time, as it turns out that temperature was far greater than expected. Also, I haven't made pancakes in a decade, though I still remember how to make them…"

Starfire then indeed the conversation, which had taken several our court term awkward turns by licking her lips a bit louder than she should have. Then she said "friend Raven, this food looks delicious…. But where should I sit?"

"Your seat is the one between the vegetarian meal and the sampling of American food. Cyborg yours is the meat flaked it is across from the vegetarian one, mine is one seat away from on the same side of the table. My food is simply a collection of my favorite foods, both from this planet, and my home dimension. I even managed to find some Zor-ko spices in a small copper bottle of the semi-restaurant where Starfire and I get our food from."

"What's the big deal with the copper bottle and the spices?" asked Beast Boy.

Raven smiled fondly and replied "A certainly reasonable question, Beast Boy. Zor-ko spices have long been my favorite of the many seasonings that can be found in my home dimension. The spices traditionally come from a small copper bottle that almost resembles a very small hand-held cookie jar in its form."

The team sat down and started to eat much to Raven's great satisfaction both Cyborg and beast boy seemed to be enjoying the meals. However as she looked upon them a thought struck Raven 'why does Beast Boy even eat tofu, surely there are more than enough vegetables to give them a diverse and healthy diet?'

This train of thought ended abruptly when Starfire remarked "friend Raven, my food is indeed as good as it looks. It is an excellent duplication of Tamerrainen food, although the spices are different from what we would employ."

Raven smiled widely at the compliment "the spices turned out to be the most problematic part of this entire meal, in terms of getting a taste to be similar to what I was told your species in enjoys. Also, some of your foods are extremely unique and could not be found at Galflang's."

Starfire nodded "I see. In any event I would be curious to try some of your people's dishes some time."

Raven smiled brightly "well then it seems as though I'll have to give you a sample platter some time. I must admit, after getting over my shock at seeing the great variety and all the types of colors of the food found on your home world. I had to remind myself of what I had learned long ago. It is the taste of food and not how it looks which matters… That being said, I had been previously informed that your whole world was a tropical paradise. So I was shocked to see that your home planet was in fact desert world. Then I looked closer at the scene and saw the delightful interplay of light and shadow among the sand dunes, thus I can certainly see why your people would find it beautiful. "

The orange skinned female beamed and flew into the air and went towards Raven and hugged her. Raven quickly swallowed the food she had just in her mouth and said in a deadpan voice "Starfire, please cease your hugging of me. For all I know my insurance company has a clause that will prevent them from paying doctors to fix my broken ribs due to them being caused by an overjoyed alien."

Starfire stops her hugging and looked at Raven with guilt and sadness. "friend Raven, please forgive me."

Raven smiled and replied "though I will need a quick checkup with the help of Cyborg. I doubt you did any permanent damage, and I cannot fault you for being true to your culture and your biology."

The Alien looked oddly at her and said "most of my people are not quite are not _continuously_ joyous as I am."

Raven smiled brightly and closed her eyes "then I cannot fault you for being who you are."

Starfire looked like she was about to hug her friend again, but managed to stop herself. Upon seeing this Raven giggled slightly as Starfire took her seat again. The Titans enjoyed their meal, when they were done and all the dishes had been put away raven spoke. She asked "can someone tell me what time it is? I have a meeting of sorts to get to."

Cyborg quickly checked the time and said "it's 8:35 now. What kind of meeting is it? I can take you there in the T-Car if you like… There are some improvements to the sound system of the car's radio I want to test out anyway."

Raven rolled her eyes and replied "no thank you. I would prefer to have my hearing intact, thank you very much… However, if you have some Philip Glass, John Lennon, or Roger Miller I might consider going for a drive with you some time it some other time. In any case, the meeting is one of benevolent sorcerers. Some of the most powerful beings in the universe will be there as well that puts you will certain connections I have. The group is considering a sort of youth training program to make sure young sorcerers don't inadvertently kill themselves, or summon a powerful demon in to this world by accident."

Beast Boy looked somewhat annoyed and asked "and I suppose we're not invited?"

Raven shrugged and said "I'd have to ask the other members permission to invite you. Furthermore, the meeting place is in a small, heavily concealed pocket dimension. In order to sense the location and enter it, you need a sizable amount of natural magical energy. Also, although the groups rules are highly informal it has ended up being composed of only of highly influential sorcerers, from this planet and otherwise. Finally, I believe you would find the meeting place very basic and disorienting, if not somewhat terrifying. Also the meeting itself, at least today, is quite boring and highly technical in places."

Raven turned to leave. But then tilted her head back into be direction of her friends "that being said. There will likely be some mystical crises that either require an outside opinion or are related to me personally. You'd be surprised how many prophecies I get mentioned in, and at least one case, said prophecy leaves me with a headache as it raises two profound and disturbing paradoxes... However, that prophecy would also likely interfere with our duties, as it might cause grave worry to the team for two very different reasons. In any event I will try to bring up the matter of non-magical guest I will let you know, goodbye."

As a section of the wall was covered for a few moments in magical energy as Raven walked through it, creating a tunnel that opened itself up as she did so.

(**************************************************************************************************************************)

Slade took off his mask and sipped the very last bit of tea in the surprisingly small and expensive looking ivory teacup his hand. Then after setting the cup that on its tray carefully put his mask back on and made a thorough check of all his weapons… it was time to get to work… After all he had to pay for the food Wintergreen always made anyway… Fortunately there always seemed to be someone who needed to be to be eliminated for, _political reasons_… Business was quite good… and Slade hoped it would remain that way for the foreseeable future…

(**************************************************************************************************************************)

Raven soon arrived at her destination: what looked at first glance to be a small room that was shaped like a horizontal three-dimensional oval with long, flat sides, and walls that were kept in shadow. In reality, this was not a room, at least not technically one. The only things in the room besides Raven, were a table made out of granite and covered in wood, which it's with its edges made out of pure Ruby and some chairs that were covered in a material similar to leather. Each chair had had its occupants name magically embedded in it and all of the chairs gave off a bright yellow light in the near pitch blackness of the room. The legs of the table were made out of mix of black onyx and black jade with the upper parts covered in silver. In truth, one of the members had simply transformed in ordinary wooden table into one made mostly of granite. Then the other founding members had used their magic on the rest of the furniture, which give it its unique appearance.

Three minutes later two of the other members arrived. One of them had black hair with a thin streak of red on the part of his hair that was about his face. He had penetrating eyes. Odd looking pointed tips that had house that stuck out of their ends in the upper corner of his slanted eyebrows. Finally he wore a light brown jacket with a buttoned blue undershirt, and always seemed to have a grim or gloomy look on his face.

The other wore a black-almost blue fedora and cape. He also wore long black pants and a mostly black shirt that covered some of his neck and head of the center front of it of a triangle shaped piece of white cloth. His hair was black with a ring a gray hair that circled his head. Most of his face was covered in shadow, giving most others the impression he was wearing a mask. He also had 3 Golden disks on front of the suit. The two, on his shoulders were blank, but the one on his chest had a carving that changed every now and then.

Raven walked over and shook hands, first with the man who was mostly dressed in black, and then the man in the Brown suit. Raven smiled widely, and she spoke "hello Jason, I take it you've had no luck again finding that idiot Merlin?"

The man in the brown suit sighed softly and shook his head. Raven gave the man a gentle but short pat on his shoulder and then turned her attention to the other figure. Raven gave the man a wistful smile as she shook his hand. "Phantom Stranger*, you missed the last meeting and it's been almost a year since I saw you last. I take it you've been kept quite busy?"

The Phantom stranger nodded slightly "with your emotions back cosmic balance is tilted slightly in favor of chaos. However in all likelihood, once the ripples your control over your abilities have caused end, the struggle between chaos and order will revert an eternal stalemate once more." Raven's old friend, sounded somewhat frustrated, as both of them wondered whether the pointless war between Order and Chaos would ever end.

Jason ended the momentary silence that had followed, by saying "in all likelihood. Death should physically manifest itself here soon."

Raven nodded and said "she's probably annoying those in charge of chaos again; I doubt she will ever truly forgive them for what they did to her sister. After all, The Endless are mostly above such petty things grudges, but Death (or at least that aspect of _it_) is the one that is most akin in psychology to mortals and thus can feel emotions that are denied to the others. Still she tends to be playful and enigmatic most of the time. Hmmmm… I wonder… How she would get along with my _hangout _buddies?"

Soon, Death and the others like Dr. Fate, The Enchantress, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Yz AKA the Thunderbolt (a powerful jinn who was born from smoke caused by the accidental burning of an economic report signed by a great Prophet*) who was best known as the sarcastic servant of Johnny Thunder, Athena, and Zauriel arrived within a few minutes, within a few minutes all the chairs were filled, and in 5 ½ hours the meeting was complete.

After Raven had returned to her room she thought about what had been discussed during the meeting 'it seems that very confusing prophecy. That entails the death of true superhero is on everyone's mind once more, now more than ever. I regret giving Terra from basic rundown of it at the news Jim's Diamond Restaurant. The prophecy and the event it described was called "the Night of Endless Threats" and it is easily one of the most terrifying prophecies of all time…'

(**************************************************************************************************************************)

Tara "Terra" Markov AKA Gwydion* Archie* "Prithvi or to her 2 best friends Privie" Johnson was sleeping in at her home, due to was school being closed. This was because the over worked Principal of Terra's private school had decided to follow to an old and odd state law that allows a school to take a day off due to a local holiday. The official explanation for the holiday was an unexpected increase in grades for much of the school, but in truth, the principal just wanted a day as he would get no rest while the rest of the students were away on break. Meanwhile, the high school student's parents were watching a news report about an unexpected increase in assassinations over the last few months…

Raven was rarely the kind of being to fly around aimlessly. Thus the feeling of such rare and raw joy felt odd somehow. Like it was sallow and incomplete on a deep spiritual level, sadly Raven knew this feeling all too well… However, Raven ignored the discomfort and flew on, but something was wrong! There was a being with malintent afoot! The presence was known to her all too well, but it had changed, it now reeked of the most deadly kind of "Super Science". Raven thought 'where are you O Soldier of murder and greed? If I can find him soon enough I can use one or two of my regained abilities to stop him before he can try to kill of one or all of my teammates in battle.'

(**************************************************************************************************************************)

Slade was currently in a partially demolished warehouse with only a table, separating him from his latest client, who as might be expected was hidden in shadow. The payment for this job was quite high, which was a bit odd. Even though there were multiple individuals, who the client wished to be taken care of. This was somewhat odd, but not something that was unprecedented in Slade's long experience at taking lives for profit. However this did raise one of the few things Slade hated about this particular line of work, that larger fees often meant greater security, or in extraordinarily powerful individual who had been targeted for assassination. Still, considering the information that had been provided Slade was confident, that neither of these annoying situations would be in encountered on this job.

However that meant that there was something dangerous or ugly, that would or might occur during the job, and his client might not want him ahead of time as to what this circumstance might be. In Slade's opinion the worst kind of assassination job to take on was one where your client was not being honest with you. Thus there was an unexpected element that would at some point arise and make the job of assassination that much harder, even though it could've been avoided simply by the client being honest.

Slaves sighed and looked straight at his client, where he knew the client's eyes should be and said "are right, you've had your fun beating around the bush. But before I take on this job I wish to know what sort of difficulty, I will be getting myself into. After all, I don't often get paid this well unless there is something a client won't or can't tell me about my assignment, which would make it unfavorable to me, should it be known."

The client visibly flinched and said "there will be no unforeseen difficulties, at least nothing major." Slade's one eye narrowed in frustration, and perhaps a bit of anger as he said "then why am I being paid so much? Normally being paid this much money for an assassination means there's something about it that I won't like. I prided myself on the efficiency and quickness of my kills, particularly in my role as a sniper.

I hate taking on jobs with unexpected complications. They make an occupation that is surprisingly boring much of the time and add a certain spice to it, spice that might just cause my body to end up in the morgue!"

On the job Slade could not afford to lose his temper in front of a client. However, for some reason, he simply could not understand that was on the verge of happening.

Slade's client sighed, and then spoke "the reason I was with ordering information from you was for two very good reasons. One reason is I represent two criminal masterminds; one is a certain so-called terrorist, who wants revenge on a magic using superheroine who is part of a certain group of superheroes. The other mastermind is known as Mad Mod. Giving his last encounter with superheroes he suffered several life-threatening injuries. He attempted to fire a lawsuit but the case was laughed out of court, he may not survive the surgery. He is undergoing now in an attempt to save his life. Plus in advance, he had someone contact me to make sure that the best assassin available would be on call to eliminate those who may end his life."

Slade thought momentarily and nodded "I can see why you paid that information from me. If the terrorist is who I think, then and it will certainly be in my best interest to do with job right for my own sake. However, what is the other reason for withholding information?"

"The Teen Titans are the superheroes that both of my own clients have in common. Although their franchise contains two sorcerers, the one in my more powerful and wealthy client speaks of is likely the one on the original team."

Now Slade knew what had been bothering him, he slammed his fist into the table and shouted "the Titans! You weren't going to tell me that I was going to fight my old enemies, regardless of whether or not I'm actually ready to confront them at this point!"

Slade now trying to calm himself down as he thought 'can I face them so soon?' After a full hour and a half of thinking Slade had come to a decision. He looked at his client and said "I have waited long enough to confront my old enemies; the Titans will soon meet a whole new Slade!"

(**************************************************************************************************************************)

Terra woke up covered in sweat! Her nice nap had turned into a "possible" nightmare.

She wasn't sure whether or not she had seen vision of a prophecy Raven had, mentioned only a few days before, or if she had simply had an intense nightmare. In any event, Terra wanted to take a walk now, her parents were somewhat in different two who are coming and goings at points, furthermore, they were asleep now. Several blocks away from Terra's house a crowd was slowly forming. Terra was curious as to what was going on, so she got herself in the thick of it. Everyone has been looking at two machine guns placed on the sidewalk. They figured it was some kind of publicity stunt; they had grown somewhat used to odd things at this point.

Then with guns started to fire in a large spread pattern so everyone would duck instead of run as they usually did… a few seconds later Slade appeared. He had leaked all leapt off the top of a roof and had rushed them between the two machine guns as they fired. The guns were there to attract attention and taking a nice orderly crowd that Slade could easily control. For a few minutes there was absolute silence as everyone was too nervous to speak. Then a few camera crews arrived at Slate was ready to issue his ultimatum. After role the best way to get the attention of a superhero was to create a truly deadly situation in broad daylight. Furthermore if they attracted more of a crowd so much the better, the Titans would have to be careful with their aim and hold back… This would make his task all the more easy. Particularly, since it was likely that in spite of Slade's warning the superheroes would try to free those hostages. Slade thought 'in the past my enemies' teamwork and their so called "friendship" made me underestimate them. No more shall I do so, but when their loyalty and self-sacrifice lies with maybe the greatest weakness: giving your life for the sake of another means, you won't be around to help anyone else.'

Now that he was on camera Slade pointed a one-handed sub-machine gun of the crowd and spoke "Titans. I know you can hear me, by now this little scene is on every news station in the city and will soon be watched across the nation. Watch closely, as I give you this ultimatum: come to me with your hands tied behind your back and your legs cuffed in thick shackles of pure titanium. Then allow yourselves to be executed… on camera! For every minute you delay after this speech is done, I will kill one person in the small crowd I have here."

A minute passed…

The gun in his hand was aimed at Terra…

A minute and a half later a shot was fired…

To Be Concluded…

(**************************************************************************************************************************)

*All Raven really wanted Cyborg to do was to gve her a secure and heavily encrypted laptop. One that would allow her to use some of the ancient writing systems she often used as a form of code as scholars were unaware of them.

*She had slept in. She rarely did so.

*The Olympics like event (NiavKeltoi's (Shining –Hidden People's) Sport) that occurs once every five years in Raven's home city has some significant differences that set it apart from other athletic events. For example, it is divided into "Citizen" and "Dedicated Amateur" Events. Also, at least one third of those who participated in "Citizen" Events were selected at random from at least five preselected city blocks, furthermore, the sports performed at the games vary from year to year.

*He/it is a dedicated agent of the Lords of Order, a powerful group of extra dimensional sorcerers. Their duty is to keep the cosmic balance of the universe tilted in favor of the cosmic concept of order at all cost and eternally battle a rival group of sorcerers known as Lords of Chaos who have the opposite goal. Neither group is exactly benevolent.

*Appropriately Terra is a Virgo, that constellation was once associated with Shala, a Babylonian war goddess who was also a goddess of grain and the earth. She possesses double-headed mace-scimitar that had to lions on them.

*Her foster her family's nonreligious grandfather mistakenly believed that the name is based on the word "arche".


End file.
